Selling Your Home

No matter how organized you are, there’s always a chance something unexpected could derail your carefully-crafted plans for moving day. Anticipating and creating a plan for managing unexpected problems will help you overcome any challenges you may encounter.

To help you navigate any unforeseen complications, we’ve created a list of 7 of the most common moving day problems, along with our tips for keeping your move on track:

1. Illness

The best way to manage illness is to avoid getting sick in the first place. If you come down with a slight case of the sniffles or a minor cold, you can most likely progress with your move as scheduled. For more serious illnesses, you may need to reschedule.

If you notice yourself starting to feel under the weather in the days leading up to your move, there are a few things you can do to limit the impact:

Try to get lots of rest and fluids.

Stock up on tissues, cough drops, and any other supplies you might need, including cleaning supplies so you can prevent others from getting sick.

Schedule a doctor’s appointment for a diagnosis and a prescription, if necessary.

Get help from friends and family. There’s nothing wrong with letting someone else take the lead on your move if your brain is fogged up on cold medication.

If your kids get sick, enlist the help of family, friends, or a trusted neighbor to watch over them. If no one is available, set up a comfortable spot out of the way where they will have access to everything they need, and where you can keep an eye on them while you continue packing.

2. Injury

Avoiding injury is easy if you take a few steps to keep yourself and your helpers safe while you...

Whether you decide to hire movers or rent a truck and move yourself, budgeting for your upcoming move—local or long distance—can help you plan accordingly and take steps to reduce the costs as much as possible. But between accounting for the cost of movers, packing supplies, and other costs—not to mention the inevitable confusion of actually packing up your house—it’s easy to forget about some of the common hidden costs of moving.

To help you plan for any unexpected costs, we’ve put together a list of 11 of the most commonly-missed hidden costs of moving:

11 UNEXPECTED COSTS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR MOVING BUDGET

1. Your Movers

If you solicited quotes from multiple moving companies for your upcoming relocation, you probably have a good idea of how much your moving service will cost. But the way your movers are compensated can impact how much you end up paying:

If you’re paying movers by the hour, they may not move as quickly as you’d like, which can increase your bill.

If you’re paying movers a flat fee, they may rush through your job so they can get to their next customer. This increases the risk of loss or damage.

Hiring the company that provides you with the cheapest quote may save you money up front, but it can lead to increased costs that you may not have predicted, such as the costs of repairing or replacing stuff that got broken by poorly qualified movers or movers who rushed through your job.

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If you are an avid gardener, or if you are thinking about embarking on a gardening campaign at your residence, you may wonder whether a garden adds value to your home. As is the case with many things in life, the answer to the question of whether or not your garden adds value to your home is not a simple "yes" or "no."

The Garden that Detracts

Before we dive into an examination of how a garden can add value to your home, a discussion of how a garden can detract from a residence is important. There are some common mistakes that even the best intentioned homeowners make when it comes to gardening on their properties.

Perhaps the most common mistake a homeowner makes when it comes to gardening is overdoing. In other words, a homeowner litters the property with a myriad of flower beds and assorted plants, all lacking a sense of cohesion and organization. This can prove to a particular problem when a homeowner wants to sell. This type of garden menagerie can lower the value of a property, and sometimes rather significantly so. In the end, the property looks like something that would be a major headache -- and expense -- to maintain (or eliminate, depending on the goals objectives of a person who might be interested in purchasing the residence).

Even gardening done at a residence in proper proportions must be well-tended. Another of the common mistakes a homeowner makes is failing to properly tend to and care for gardens on the premises. A poorly tended garden not only looks bad, but it sends a loud message that a homeowner is not diligent in caring for the premises. The combination of these two factors can knock down the value of residential property.

The Proper Garden and the Value of Your Home

Understanding that a garden can detract from the premises, can lower a property's...

There are many reasons why you may need to sell your home quickly. An unexpected job offer may mean a new life and new location. Maybe you’re getting married and merging lives and homes. Perhaps you’ve inherited a house that is going to be a financial burden if you don’t sell fast. It could be that the market is hot and you know it’s the right time to get a high offer and sell.

Whatever your reasons, selling your home quickly will save you time, money and a lot of the stress that comes with this big life decision. Below are 11 tips to help you get your home sold quickly.

Keep an Eye on the Market

Check local real estate blogs and monitor industry trends. Are certain neighborhoods selling like crazy? Did schools re-zone recently, changing the demand for a particular location? Knowing what’s going on with the market can help you determine the best time to sell.

According to Time Magazine, 60% of those who move, do so in the summer. The grass is green and natural light is flooding through your windows making everything look cheerful and presentable. It’s a time for new beginnings, and armed with tax refunds; buyers are poised to spend.

If this situation sounds familiar to you, now is the perfect time to declutter and get your home ready for a quick sale. Moving in the spring and summer is a lot easier than dealing with moving on a cold and rainy Tampa day.

Make the Right First Impression

When you’re getting ready to sell, think about what attracted you to the home in the first place and capitalize on it. Your home should stand out and have instant curb appeal. Simple and inexpensive changes like painting your front door or investing in professional landscaping will immediately up the ante according to experts...